The concurrently-filed patent application of Robbins and Bush, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 290,918, Agents for Preparing Cross-Linked Polymers and Paint and Plastic Compositions Containing Those Agents, describes the desirability of formulating paint, coating or plastic compositions which are based on in situ polymerization technology. Using this approach, a polymer precursor material, in an appropriate vehicle, is spread in a film and a cross-linking polymerization reaction is initiated in that film, for example by contact with oxygen in the air or by the addition of heat. Based on a proper selection of the polymer precursor (i.e., one which provides a sufficiently rapid, yet controlled, rate of polymerization with a desirable degree of cross-linking), the films formed can be significantly more durable than conventional film-forming compositions (e.g., paint). The present invention relates to 4-vinyl itaconic acid (beta-vinyl itaconic acid) compounds, specifically 4-vinyl-2-methylenebutanedioic acid and its esters, as well as amide and nitrile analogues of these compounds. The compounds undergo a rapid free-radical polymerization reaction (it is believed that this reaction utilizes a cyclopolymerization mechanism) and are, therefore, useful themselves in formulating film-forming compositions. They may also be used in synthesizing more complex film-forming polymer precursor materials.